Console Achievements

[Doktor D]

If they were actually challenges, then I wouldn't mind achievements. Like if Sonic 2 had an achievement "Beat Chemical Plant Act 1 in 30 seconds or less," that would be cool.

Or maybe if they actually unlocked something, like a new weapon to use.

But no, a good bunch of them are "Beat Chapter 3, get 100 points" or "Kill people with an often-used weapon, 300 points" and all they do is add to your LoserGamerscore.

I think this says it best (middle panel).

[NeoVamp]

You're old enough to remember back when most games produced score points from playing

Yeah i do, thats why i said it didn't mean jack shit in the 90's, because in the 80's it sure did.
but then gaming changed and we didn't need to show off that we got to level 92 of Pacman with a score of 90000000.

I also feel that its pointless to show scores these days, back in the day you had a couple friends who were in the same game as you,
and you could compare who was better, but now with the Internet and so many gamers.. it just feels pointless.

And thats just about high scores, don't even get me started on "achievements"

Glad we didn't have those back in the Genesis days, we'd have been all like "picked up a ring achievement!!!" in Sonic,
and "picked up an apple achievement!! in Streets of Rage"
"Fought Reptile achievement in Mortal Kombat"
"Gruesome achievement!!!" when you do your 3rd Fatality.
"Fast runner achievement!!!" when you use the hightops in Toejam & Earl.

No sir, achievements are pointless but apparently the kids these days love them
because it makes them feel like they accomplished something important,

I miss the gaming days of yore, where just finishing a game of SOR2 was achievement enough.

[Zoltor]

I think an achievement system in its self is cool, but It's extremely pointless to have it connected to the internet. It gets more pointless every day as well, especially with all the save file copying/tranfering, cheats, and moding going on these days.

[OldSchool]

I like the concept of achievement points. In addition to it being e-bragging rights it also adds the extra adage of a purpose to complete game that you may not have the desire to want to finish.

I don't. No.... it does not. The desire to finish a game comes from... guess what... the desire to finish the bloody game, not to have some fake trophy that's useless.

No sir, achievements are pointless but apparently the kids these days love them
because it makes them feel like they accomplished something important.

Exactly... people who give two shits about game trophies need to earn some REAL LIFE trophies.

[Elusive]

um, the concept of a 'high score' in videogames has been around since 1976 and the arcade game Sea Wolf (and not, apparently, Asteroids as I previously believed). I'm going to take a wild leap of faith here and guess that that's longer than you have been alive.

[gamevet]

What's the difference between going for all the
Stars in Super Mario 64 and finding all the jumps in Burnout: Paradise, just so you can earn the trophy?

[NeoVamp]

Its not the point that they've been around so long, its the point that they have been turned obsolete by the changing game experience.
the 90's changed gaming from point based Pacman into a more adventure like experience.
and all of the games that came after that have continued that idea,
but now with "achievements" they have reinstated the useless point system idea.
And for what purpose? what purpose does the "you finished the game 5 times achievement?"
I don't want people to know that i have too much time on my hands! >_>
but apparently somewhere in a high-school nerds gather and go online on their Internet padz thingies
and they are all like "i totally finished level 1 last night!, look at mah trophy!"

Achievements are completely useless, yet you see people talk about them like they mean something.

Achievements are nothing more then..

[gamegenie]

I don't. No.... it does not. The desire to finish a game comes from... guess what... the desire to finish the bloody game, not to have some fake trophy that's useless.

Exactly... people who give two shits about game trophies need to earn some REAL LIFE trophies.

I think you're looking at it a little too one-sided.

Yes. There are people who do give a shit about achievement points and trophies () and they are often motivated about obtaining all the achievements for a game that they don't even care much for other than they can truly be done with the game and trade it in for another game.

[gamevet]

Have any of you haters played Burnout 3: Takedown?

The trophy/achievement system probably got its start from the ideas created through that game. Crash into a bus = get a trophy, take down 5 cars in a row = get a trophy, clear out an area = get a trophy. Those trophies weren't necessary to finish every track in the game, but they did have a percentage of game completion attached to them. And you know what? A lot of people would try to get them all to say they completed the game 100%.

There was no bonuses for finishing Burnout 3: Takedown 100%, but it did add extra replay value to the game. I believe it was a great idea, and so did Microsoft and Sony. Hate on it if you will, but a lot of people look at it as a bonus to the gameplay of a game. I do as well, and I'd have probably breezed through Fallout 3, if not for trophies extending my gameplay options.

[Pulstar]

No matter how good you are at something, always remember that there are countless people who are even better!

Have any of you haters played Burnout 3: Takedown?

I had, and it pretty much ruined the series for me.

And it's always refreshing to witness these mature debates here on Sega-16.

[runback22]

I'll never forget my best achievement. I played the simpsons game they release a couple of years back. Pretty good game. I loaded it up for the first time, pressed start, and got the Easiest.Achievement.Ever. achievement.

Good stuff. I looked like that kid in vamps post.

[Elusive]

It's also worth noting that Microsoft share achievement data with game developers. This means that after a game has sold, they can examine how many people played the game to completion as opposed to getting bored and playing something else (hence games having achievements for finishing levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...), the time between getting the first achievement and the previous allows you to judge whether people are playing in short chunks or steamrolling over a weekend, and so on, or even if people are bothering to configure their starting character or whatever.

Some games do this in the background anyway; for example, Mass Effect 2 and other EA games. Naturally Halo also does this, to generate all the lovely stats and user content on bungie.net.

[kool kitty89]

You'd be surprised at how many people get that saying wrong. I've had people even argue tooth-&-nail with me when I tried to correct them about that.

Yeah, it's stupid and had been heavily proliferated by mass media, including children's programming (I recall an episode of Fairly Odd Parents with "could care less" as a primary plot element -odd that I should see that given I've only seen some half a dozen episodes of that show).

I used to get frustrated, but it's gotten to the point where I almost couldn't care less about it anymore.

People still brag about their damn score? that shit didn't mean jack shit in the 90's and still doesn't.

Guess thats the emo gamer of today, bragging about his score and achievements while messaging someone they beat to tell them they PWONED HIM!

God i hate gamers these days.

They're trying to drag up old trends from the 70s and 80s and the arcade scene, but executing it in a way that most people have no idea about that and those that do are often frustrated by the ridiculousness.

[Melf]

And it's always refreshing to witness these mature debates here on Sega-16.

This what I think of every time this debate comes up:

[OldSchool]

It's also worth noting that Microsoft share achievement data with game developers. This means that after a game has sold, they can examine how many people played the game to completion as opposed to getting bored and playing something else (hence games having achievements for finishing levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...), the time between getting the first achievement and the previous allows you to judge whether people are playing in short chunks or steamrolling over a weekend, and so on, or even if people are bothering to configure their starting character or whatever.

Some games do this in the background anyway; for example, Mass Effect 2 and other EA games. Naturally Halo also does this, to generate all the lovely stats and user content on bungie.net.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Now we're getting somewhere. That makes a lot of sense, Elusive